Amazing Two Legged Dog

Empowering Education Ira Shor

"you must arouse children's curiosity and make them think about school."

I really agreed with this quote because if a teacher cannot get the students to get curious about things they will never be interested in learning about anything. The more a teacher gets the students involved in the work, and makes them think about why things happen the way they do, then they will want to learn more.

"To socialize students, education tries to teach them the shape of knowledge and current society, the meaning of past events, the possibilities for the future, and their place in the world they live in."

This quote is really saying that school is a place where students makes friends and socialize but also a place where the students find their place in the world. The students find their place in the world by discovering what they like the best to learn and then they proceed a career in that subject. For example if a student really likes history then they may want to be a history teacher. Also, schools teach about things from the past to the future because students need to know about past events as well as things for the future to help them make important decisions.

"They learn by interacting, by experimenting, and by using play to internalize the meaning of words and experience."

Students do not just learn from their teachers they learn from there peers as well. When i was little i can remember learning things from my friends that my teachers never taught. Sometimes when a student cannot understand a specific topic they can as their friend and the friend can explain it to them. When another student explains the topic the other student can usually understand it better.

"There is now a good deal of research evidence to suggest that the more time and effort students invest in the learning process and the more intensely they engage in their own education, the greater will be their growth and achievement, their satisfaction with their education experiences, and their persistence in college and the more likely they are to continue their learning."

When students invest time into their school work it makes them better students. The more time that is spent in school work the better the student will understand what he or she is doing. If at a young age the student gets into a good habit about studying and doing homework it will lead to a  very successful school career. If the student slacks off and does not put the time and effort into their work than  they are are not going to be very successful.

Christopher Kliewer

“Fundamental to constructivist teaching is a respect for each student as both an active agent in the learning process and an essential member of the learning community.”

This quote is basically saying that the teacher needs to recognize each students importance to the class. Each student brings a different piece to the class. The teacher should allow the students to do things that express themselves. Also, part of being a teacher is respecting the students so they will respect you back. Every student in the class brings something new which makes every class unique.

I really liked the part in the article when shayne Robbins was saying how the class would not be half the way it is without the children with down syndrome in it. She then goes on to say "we are all in it together". Going back to the first quote each child brings something different to the class. Each child may learn different or may look different from the rest but they still do bring something to it. What shayne robbins was basically saying was the class would be incomplete if you took those three children out of it.

Community] requires a willingness to see people as they are-different perhaps in their minds and in their bodies, but not different in their spirits or in their willingness and ability to contribute to the mosaic of society.”

this was by far my favorite quote from this article. This is how a community should be. It should be one in which people can go to talk about any problems they have. A community has to be filled with people who you know you can count on in hard times. Also, within the community you need to be able to understand the different people and they need to understand you. I think it is great when schools have their own little communites such as the after school clubs, or sports. When you have a group of people you know you can count on it gives you a sense of belonging and everyone deserves to feel that.

Jean Anyon

I had many mixed feelings reading this article. I like certain parts of it and some i did not like nor did i agree with them.

When i was reading about the Affluent professional School, i really liked "how student work is creative activitiy carried out independently."
I think it is good to be able to use creativity and to have them express their feelings and apply ideas and concepts to them. I do not agree with having a research project for young students that us says to research and write a paper. I feel as though if you have them do a research project they should be able to research it then use a poster board or create a power point to present it. This way they can put creativit and feeling into making the visual. I also believe visuals always help a student understand material better than just reading it.

I also liked the Executive Elite School. I liked their goal which said "thought is to conceptualize rules by which elementary elements may fit together in systems and then to apply these rules in solving a problem."

I liked how the teacher discussed many different formulas to solve the problem then let he students try one themselves. I particularlyl like this way of teaching because it can help the student better understand the problem rather than if the teacher just put one example up on the board explained it then made the students do it on their own. I know for me i learn better when things are fully explained and when the teacher goes over a few problems together with the whole class and then makes us try some one our own.

When reading about the Middle Class Schools i did not particularly like everything. "Most lessons are based on the textbook""Work tasks do not usually request creativity"

I do not always beliveve that textbook lessons are the best lessons. I feel as though a lesson should go outside the textbook. I think for example in reading a teacher should make the story come alive and act out parts. I also think in science experiments should be done and in social studies visuals should be shown like movies, or photos. I also think that work should include creativity. The more creative a student is the better their work will be.

Race, Class, and Gender Why students fail

Specifically blacks and similar minorities believe that in order for a minority person to succeed in school academically, he or she must learn to think and act white."

I agree with this statement because in some parts of our country in order for them to fit in they have to change their entire lifestyle to a white person's. Especially for example a spanish person they must learn to speak english and when they do this it pushes them further away from their culture and more into a white person's culture. I feel that people that are black or latino etc do feel the need to think they have to act white so that they will fit in.

"each group needs to be understood separately within its own cultural, class, race, and gendered frames of reference."

i think that this statement is so true because different groups are so different from one another. For example spanish people are so different than black. They have different things that they do in their culture so therefore they should be looked as two separate groups not as one.

"Disadvantaged females not only constitute an exonomically subordinate group; they are also opressed by the very fact that they are females."

I agree with this statement. Many females are opressed because they are females. I learned last semester in my woment studies class that women are paid much lower than men and also recieve less pretigious jobs. When i leared this i did not agree with it at all because women can so things just as good as men do. I do not think they should be discriminated against because they are females.

"Marriage appeared as a trap from which they saw few avenues of escape"

I really liked this statement because some women really feel like it is a trap. Many women are scared to escape their marriage. Those women are usually the ones being abused. They are afraid that if they try to escape things will get worse. I also learned last semester in women studies class that when a women is being abused she usually will not do much about it because she is scared that if she did she would get more hurt.

A particularly cheap white whine

This article really open my eyes to how many more white students get scholarships than black. Also, it really shows how whites have many more opportunites than blacks do.

"white students are twice as likely as their african american or latino counterparts to be taught by the most highlty qualified teachers and half as likely to have least qualified instuctors in class."

I thought this was very interesting to read because it is not right that they stick the less qualified teachers with the students who are no white. The students who are not white deserve to get the same education as the students who are white. It is not right how our society descriminates these students just by their color. In my eyes everyone deserves to get educated by highly qualified teachers no matter what their color or race is.

"whites would enjoy extra and unearned opportunity relative to people of color, thanks to pre-existing advantages to which we were never entitled in the first place."

This statement is completely true. Every white person was born with these special advantages that were never earned. Just because we were born white we are fortuneate to not be the race that is discriminated against. Unfortunately for a black person or a Latino person they were not born into the preferred race to therefore they face these hardships such as being educated by a less qualified teacher, not getting the opportunity to be placed in advanced placement college, and not getting the opportunity to recieve a full scholarship to college.

"On average black student's families are only able to cover about forty-two percent of the cost of college at the nation's most selective schools, while white families are able to cover, on average, roughly seventy- four percent of the total cost."

This was really an eye opener to me to see how much black families struggle compared to white families. White families are able to afford the college tuition because they are the ones for the most part that hold the prestigious high paying jobs. While on the other hand black families are not fortunate to have the high paying jobs so therefore they have to struggle to put their children through college. We have made college so expensive so therefore only the people who have money will be able to go.

The Politics of Service Learning

“In addition to helping those they serve, such service learning activities seek to promote students' self-esteem, to develop higher-order thinking skills, to make use of multiple abilities, and to provide authentic learning experiences—all goals of current curriculum reform efforts.”

I would have to agree with the quote above.  I think that service learning can really help students. I know in my high school they did service learning projects and that would help particularly seniors get first hand experiences of careers they would might want to do. Also i think that if they student picks what organization to go to it will make the whole experience better. Anytime a person it interested in something it will make them want to keep going and learning more

"The distance between the one caring and the one cared for diminishes. Unfortunately, in many service activities, students view those they serve as clients rather than as a resource"

I agree with this quote as well. I think that is is great if the person who is caring for the people actually goes and interacts with them. When you start to interact with the people you are helping it helps you build strong relationships with them. Also, you can learn from the people and they can learn form you. By caring and interacting with people you are better able to understand them and they are better able to understand you.

BODY HEAT

Unlearning the myths that blind us

"Secret Education"
        The books and stories we read as children each have a different meaning that sticks with us forever. For example Cinderella was my favorite movie as a child. Ever since I first saw that movie I had a dream of finding my own "prince charming" and living in a beautiful castle. That movie made me think that everyone found their own prince charming and lived a perfect life. As I got older I found out that was not entirely true. Yes some people do find their "prince charming" but not everyone does.

"popeye"
      When I was younger I never thought that popeye portrayed the ethnic groups as stupid. As a child you do not think of what they are really doing in the shows. You only see what is on the surface and not what is really inside. I can remeber my mom always saying to me to eat my spinach so i could be strong like popeye. I thought of popeye as a strong man that was a sailor. I did not think of it as a show that portrayed ethnic groups as stupid.

"happily ever after"
These are words that appear at the end of every disney movie and book. Disney movies always have a conflict in teh middle but then end with a happily ever after. When children watch these movies they think that everything ends with a happy ending. When the child grows up they soon see that life is not full of happy endings.

     This entire article tells you about the real meanings of these cartoons. When you are young you don't think of the real meanings you only think of the ones on the surface. For example happily ever after makes you think everything ends with a happy ending. However, when you go through life you soon see that things are always a happy endings.

Gayness, Multicultural Education, and comunity

"normal"- white, middle class male, heterosexual

"abnormal"- black, working, sick, lacking intelligence, female, homosexual.

Those two terms really sum up our society. People fit into either the normal category or the abnormal category. However, if you are part of the abnormal category you are not privileged like those who belong to the normal category.

"if students in the school community can be kept shielded from "bad influences" and provided only "positive" representations of community life, that they can be molded into "good", "well adjusted" citizens and workers".

In my opinion this statement is really saying that they want to keep the students from learning about being gay or a lesbian. They think by doing this it will help them but I think it will hurt them because you can not shelter them from these issues forever. The more the students learn about being gay or a lesbian the more they will accept it.

In society we are told to "be yourself". However, we cannnot always do that because people are always going to be constantly judging you for it. For example if you are gay it is hard to be yourself especially around people who are not willing to accept who you really are.

I can really relate to this whole article because I have three gay cousins and I have seen how hard it is for them. It was only a few years back that they came out about being gay. All three of them are in their thirties and it took them so long to finally come out and say they were gay. We all had a idea that they were but we would never ask. Even when they came out we did not love them any less or refuse to accept them anymore. They were the same three men that I always knew and loved. The fact that they were gay did not change anything. However by coming out they faced many hardships. The three boys owned a greenhouse together. Once people found out they were gay someone graffied the whole greenhouse. They took this as a hate act and it was reported to the police. Unfortuneately nothing could be done and the people who did it were never caught. Their story makes me think of this article because I feel so bad for people who have to go through what my cousins went through. People should not have to be punished for being gay. I think the schools should teach more about gayness in the classrooms because therefore it will make people better understand it and also learn to accept it in our society.

Mier "Why can't she remember that"

All children have their own language in culturally specific ways. One of the first main things that made me think was on the first page when the study was done that showed how african american children told more stories than european students. I thought that was surprising because from elementary school I always noticed that the african american students would alway be shy and did not like to talk as much as the rest so that was a surprise for me. Also, I also thought it was a good thing that the little girl Lindsey always has books read to her because when you read to a child it helps them with vocabulary and also helps them absorb cultural lessons about gender roles, family relationships, and friendship. However for children like Marisa and Lem, reading books in not part of their culture so they learn their cultrual lessons through interactions with others. As we can see children learn their cultrual lessons in many different ways. All cultures are different and that is why they learn in different ways. I agree with the section that says choose a book that relates to the children's lives. If a teacher did this many children would better understand what the book was about so then they could relate to it better than if it were a book that did not relate to them at all. Also, making books come alive can better help the students understand what the books are about. When the students see puppets acting out the book or pictures it can help them remember what the book is about. When the students see things coming alive and moving it will also help them to concentrate more so that they can retain more information. Finally using all the techniques such as making the book come alive and relating it to the child's life can really help the students remember the book. I know that when I use to read to my little cousin I used to add excitement to the book and would use pictures and stuff animals to help tell the stories. This would help him remember the story better and always help him comprehend what was really going on. Children who can see have pictures to look at or stuff animals for acting out parts will better understand what the story is really about and also be able to understand the main idea of it.

Talking point #1 on McIntosh

I have to say that while reading this article on white privilege I could really understand it. This could be because I took women studies last semester and we learned all about white male privilege. When I was reading through this article I realized that we were all taught about racism but we were never taught how whites were at a advantage. Alot of the things under the daily effects of white privilege did not surprise me, however some did stick out to me. #4 which is about going shopping and when white you are sure not to be harrassed makes me think on how when i go out i never get bothered in a store. If anything when I am in a store people are always trying to help. Something like this makes me think of how different a colored person is treated from a white person. In my eyes it is not fair.  Also, number 13 is another completely true statement. If you are a white person who is speaking out in a crowd so many people will listen to you, but if you were a colored person speaking out not as many people will listen because some people view you as not privileged and therefore feel as though they do not have to answer. Privilege means dominance of one's race or sex. No one sees themself as being racist because we are all taught that racism is when a  individual does an act of meaness toward a person who is not privileged. Finally I agree with one of the lasts points about being taught that racism could end if everyone changed their attitude. We are all taught this but in reality in order for racism to end, doors need to be open to people of color and not just white people.

About me

Hi my name is Sara. I am a freshman at rhode island college. I am majoring in elementary Ed and special Ed. I am a very outgoing person and get along with almost anyone =].

Privilege, Power, and Difference

Allen Johnson’s book focuses mainly on gender, race, social class and privilege. He begins to say how class differences have a large effect on people’s lives. I have to agree with that statement one hundred percent. People from different classes get treated differently. The most important difference she points out is that if you are white you can always change your class position. I agree with that because if you are a white male you can always find a new job to better yourself and your family; opposed to if you were a black man it would be harder and maybe impossible.

In chapter one a big question asked is can we get along? My answer to this question is probably no. As much as I would love my answer to be yes I do not think it will ever happen. I believe that we can always try to change this, but in reality you are always going to have people that will just refuse to get along with people of color, or people who are gay.  The only way people will get along is if everyone steps down talks about the sensitive issues such as racism and homosexuality. In order for things to get better people need to come together and talk so that these issues can get addressed. As much as I would love to have everyone get along, I just do not feel as though it will ever happen because it would be impossible to get everyone together in one place to talk about these sensitive topics.